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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FEED ME, ALSO, RIVER GOD, by MARIANNE MOORE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: Lest by diminished vitality and abated
Last Line: "as gifts in return for your own gifts—disregard the request."
First Line: Lest by diminished vitality and abated
Last Line: "as gifts in return for your own gifts—disregard the request."
"Lest by diminished vitality and abated
Vigilance, I become food for crocodiles—for that quicksand
Of gluttony which is legion. It is there—close at hand—
On either side
Of me. You remember the Israelites who said in pride
"And stoutness of heart: 'The bricks are fallen down, we will
Build with hewn stone, the sycamores are cut down, we will change to
Cedars?' I am not ambitious to dress stones, to renew
Forts, nor to match
My value in action, against their ability to catch
"Up with arrested prosperity. I am not like
Them, indefatigable, but if you are a god you will
Not descriminate against me. Yet—if you may fulfil
None but prayers dressed
As gifts in return for your own gifts—disregard the request."
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DILIGENCE IS TO MAGIC AS PROGRESS IS TO FLIGHT by MARIANNE MOORE